New Found Respect

Back towards the end of May, one of my friends approached me with the idea of joining her for workout class. I asked her what the class entitled, since I thought I had made myself familiar with most of the fitness classes out there in my area (I was so wrong!) She told me it was Fitness Pole Dancing. Now, the stigma that is attached to pole dancing is girls dancing around a pole wearing just a tiny little thong getting dollars thrown at them. At least, that is what was in my head when somebody mentioned pole dancing, anyway. Boy, was I ever wrong.

Let me tell you that pole dancing is, by far, the hardest thing I have ever tried to do. Well, it is right up there with the uneven bars in gymnastics, except this pole is vertical instead of horizontal. I’m pretty sure that the vertical part is what makes it so darn hard! So, there is a pole in front of you, and you have to grip the pole with your hands at chest height (one over the other) and then you have to take your feet off of the floor and hold yourself there. Yea… not happening. I just cannot do it! I am starting to get better at my climb (where you wrap your legs around the pole as well, so you can hoist yourself higher) and I am getting much, much better at the swings, but oh my goodness. My triceps hurt SO bad tonight and we won’t even get into how raw my inner thighs are. You use your inner thighs to grip the pole in some positions so they are supporting your whole body weight off of the ground (legs extended, ladies!). If all that doesn’t seem hard enough, there is a 10 to 15 minute warm up before hand that always makes you sweat. I wish I could really put into words what it feels like, but I can’t. No words can describe the pain I feel afterwords.

It’s a fantastic cardio/strength workout though! Plus, the hour flies by so you hardly think of it as a workout. It’s not like sitting there doing Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred and watching the clock countdown while you trying to think of ways to knock yourself unconscious so you don’t continue. There are no clocks, just music, and the instructors are so encouraging. They applaud you when you get a move and it really is rewarding. I hate not getting it, so I get super frustrated if I can’t get a move right away. I’ve been doing push ups every night to get my arm strength up as well! I am so much better than I was. Kettlebells seem to work your biceps, etc. but they don’t really get you used to supporting your body weight (unless I swing a 100lb kettlebell which is not going to happen anytime soon). I would highly recommend trying out a class if you get the opportunity to. I promise that you will sweat!

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2 Comments

That’s really awesome that you took the pole dancing class. I can’t imagine hoisting my body weight up a pole and then over my head. Crazy! It’s always fun to try something new even if we think we aren’t going to love it!

Oh my goodness, it is so difficult but so rewarding! There is something that makes you want to keep going when you get that one move you couldn’t get in the class before. Everybody cheers and claps. It’s really fun! I encourage everybody to try it if they get the opportunity to!